Pink Think: “When I write stories I am like someone who is in her own country, walking along streets that she has known since she was a child, between walls and trees that are hers. “ – Natalia Ginzburg
Many of my stories take place in the Philippines, where I lived until I was fifteen. From my favorite writing spot in my bedroom, I can “travel” back there. This past Saturday, I painted our bedroom…and made over my favorite writing spot.
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Until this weekend, I had painted all the rooms in our house, except for the master’s bedroom. I first tackled the kitchen, painting it a fiery southwestern red, and got brave from there. My son’s is dinasour green, my front room feels Asian with its olive green and orange hues, and I like to cozy up by the fire on cold days or laze on summer afternoons in our yellow and brown family room. Even our little laundry room got the same playful blue as my daughters’ bedroom.
(Mmm, no pink, you ask? I have a computer armoire in the family room; when you open it up to my workspace, it is decorated heavily in pink.)
Meanwhile, our bedroom stayed white with brown and black African accents, which looked kind of cool but wasn’t the real Me. Still, it was a safe option when the hubby and I couldn’t agree on something with more personality. When the plant by the window died, I took it as a sign. When my mom gave us a cheerful bedspread for our anniversary, I took that as another sign.
It was time for a bedroom – and writing spot – makeover.
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This much my husband and I agreed on: we wanted our bedroom to remind us of the Caribbean, a place we both love. I already had a blue paint called “Kamaka Island,” which makes me think of a tropical sky at sunrise. My husband had his reservations but agreed to it.
This past weekend, while my husband was out of town, I stayed up till three on Saturday morning painting our bedroom. Much to my relief, my husband said he liked it and my daughter said our room now resembles “a Caribbean hotel room”. The blue is a happy color.
I moved my writing spot, not too far away and still in the master’s bedroom, to a window.
From it, I can see our green lawn, lush from cooler temperatures; my kids’ playset; a little further, an alfalfa field harvested for the season and now pastured with horses; and then much further, like a mystical kingdom, mountains beginning to get a dusting of snow.
Different from the Philippines, but beautiful nonetheless!
I am looking forward to many hours of happy writing here.
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Where is YOUR favorite writing spot?
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First, I have yet to tell you how much I like that you always open your posts with a pertinent quote.
And I love your writing spot! I can kind of make out what greets you from the other side of the window, and it sounds completely picturesque.
I love any spot outside my home, where our wide, well-treed yard is so open and inspiring. And I love that the cove is just down the hill, leading to the main channel of the lake, where more inspiration waits. I like to carry my AlphaSmart or a notebook on outings.
i love the blue and now I want to see the rest of the colors. 🙂 I just painted one wall in our kitchen bright red and it makes me so happy.
I don’t have a favorite writing spot because I have a desktop computer and my alphasmart won’t talk to my computer. Ideally it’d be on my couch or near the ocean.
Hmmm… I’m really not picky. My current (blasted) project is saved on Google Docs, so I can access it anywhere that has internet. When I don’t have a computer, i just write in a notebook.
Gorgeous!! I’m one of those horrible procrastinators, that once I paint, I wonder, why the heck did I wait two years to do that?!
My bedroom in now in that state of limbo – also deciding on which shade of blue. LOVE yours!
I’m afraid I am chained to my desktop. But if I had to choose – it would be outside, because today is one of those rare, beautifully cool Fall days in North Texas.
Em
I am happy that you went with how you felt, and painted your room and creative space in a colour you feel content in. Interestingly enough my bedroom and office (writing/art) room is also the same colour as the blue in your room. 🙂 Many happy moments in that space.
Mine is also in my bedroom, but I can’t simply decide on something in my room and bathroom. I change my mind too often and want my rooms to flow easily from space to space. Beautiful color!! I think it looks glorious!
I have a favorite spot to write – the only problem is it’s 950 miles away.
You can take the girl away from the ocean, but…
You’ve been busy! I love that blue. 🙂
I have two.
In the summertime, I sit on my back deck with the laptop. I always have a cool mountain breeze blowing through the yard (22 wind chimes) that helps my mind drift away and cleanse the spirit. I also wander around the backyard whenever I have a small plotting problem to work out.
The second spot is in the front yard, a swinging bench next to the front porch. From there, I can do my favorite sport (people watching) and write with peace of mind.
I literally have a slice of country smack dab in the middle of suburbia.
Couch. Totally.
I’m a lazy, lazy man.
I love your writing spot! The blue is beautiful, serene but in a cheerful tone not melancholy. And you painted the room yourself?! Jewel, you are super girl if I know one. You can do everything it seems!
I’m sure you will produce a lot of treasures from your perfect writing spot. I can’t wait for you to share some with us soon.
My favorite writing spot is on my bed. Not a very creative place I know but I like writing while propped up against big fluffy pillows:-)
Love the blue. My writing spot is on the couch, on my stomach. I’m fortunate to have a fantastic view out our balcony doors to downtown Chicago (we’re on the 37th floor) so that’s inspiring, even if I can’t paint the apartment walls. (they’re hospital-white. blech.)
Love the blue – we’ve been thinking about painting my master-bedroom and have been having the same back and forth with colors.
Writing spots? I have an desk in my country kitchen, cause I need to be where the action is or the kids will be in trouble in no time! But I love to write on my palm or my laptop at a local coffeeshop or out on the back porch.
I just need quiet, which doesn’t allows workout. 😉
Janna: A lake, how fun! Now with my AlphaSmart, I can write everywhere on the run.
Melanie: Yeah, I remember you posting about your red kitchen. I think that’s about the same time I started visiting your blog. 🙂 The ocean…mmm, you are lucky.
Q: When I camp, I can be prolific in a notebook, but not at home so much. I don’t know why.
Em: Weather is turning cool here, but there’s still a few sunny days left. I’ve been thinking of driving out to this canyon road and just setting up a camp chair while sunning myself.
Pat: Welcome 🙂 How nice to have an office/art room.
Dorsey: Some rooms in my house match. My style is a little haphazard, coz I can never decide on one particular “look”. 🙂
Weston: I hear you, ocean gal 🙂
Serena: Do you mean the house? Well, it was seven years in the making. Good to see you 🙂
Georgie: I love the sound of wind chimes, too. And swings on front porches!
BPV: I guess you could say writing is a form of couch-therapy?
Marivic: Well, painting is one of those things that I’d love to be able to pay someone to do, but I can’t justify it when I figure I could tape and just “color in the lines”. Probably not as good as the pros, but good enough for me 🙂 Isn’t it fun to be able to write on the bed?? Some days, when I am writing quiet scenes, I like doing that, too. Only prob is, I tend to fall asleep!
Rachel: Wow, the 37th floor. Must be some view!
Debora: Once in a great while, I have to write in the kitchen, too, amidst all the energy or kids having snacks after school or doing homework. But yes, quiet is the best for me.
Writing spot A:
sitting on stool in kitchen with laptop on the island
Spot B: sitting in bed propped up by many many pillows, standard poodle snoring beside me
Spot C (least favorite): coffee shop, I go here to get away from my chaotic kids. But it is way too noisy there.
Spot D: library. Touch and go on this one. Somedays it’s quiet and I love being surrounded by books. But other days it’s a hangout for too many talking kids and all my scowls and frowns won’t shut them up.
Spot E: My favorite spot is in the quiet front room on my red chaise lounge by the big picture window. This is where I try to go and write as much as possible.
Spot G. Sitting in the van while it sits in the parking lot of the heritage park. I dislike this one too. I always feel a little icky sitting in a parked van. But it is a last resort when the coffee shop and library were out.
As you can see I try to be as flexible as possible to open up as much writing opportunities as I can.
oops I forgot F
F is a secret
I’m lucky enough to have a home office. The walls have wood paneling almost halfway up and the rest is dark green wall paper. My desk faces a large window that looks out on the street of our quiet neighborhood. Right now the view is pretty much taken up by the birch tree in our front yard – the leaves have changed from green to gold, and they’re dropping fast in the wind, keeping the cats sitting on the book case amused.
If I want to both write and be sociable, I’ll take the lap top into the living room or better yet, the dining room. I like to be surrounded by dark colours (the living/dining area is brick red) and I need to be able to see outisde.
I love that shade of blue! And that is one nice writing spot. I should find one, huh.
I have this giant, hardback book about women writers, and the places they wrote. It has fabulous photos and what surprised me most about many of them is that they chose to have their desk face a plain wall. It was by choice as they said it was too distracting to have it facing a window. Hmmm… I don’t know about that one. I am easily distracted at times, but don’t really relish the idea of staring at a blank wall for hours either. Anyway-just kind of interesting. ~Karen
Elizabeth: I tried the library once, but I was always getting up to read books. You have a way with suspense and mystery 🙂
Firecat: Cool for you. An office of my own would be wonderful. I can spin in a chair all day and call it work. 🙂
Heather: Well, it’s “technically” a writing spot, but I can write just as well in a parked car like Elizabeth said.
Karen: Welcome :-). When I was writing a horror novel a few months ago, I liked to write in the closet just so I could get that oppressed feeling. But it was too depressing. I like sunlight 🙂 But it sounds like an interesting book. If you remember the title, let me know.
I love this color. I am in the process of painting my studio a “Robin egg blue”…I just love paint.
I often sit in my garden with my computer. It is my office away from home.
I love paint, too. I love coming into my bedroom and getting that surprise of color. Your studio and garden sound heavenly 🙂